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Justice: 14 charged for supporting Somalia group

WASHINGTON (AP) - The government charged 14 people Thursday with
supporting "a deadly pipeline" routing money and fighters from
the U.S. to the terrorist group al-Shabab in Somalia.

The cases in Minnesota, California and Alabama reflect "a very
disturbing trend" of increasing support for terrorism, Attorney
General Eric Holder told a news conference. He credited leaders in
Muslim communities in the U.S. for helping law enforcement agencies
address the problem.

The nation "must prevent this kind of captivation from taking
hold," the attorney general said.

Most of the people charged are U.S. citizens. Some supported the
terrorist organization from the United States and others traveled
to Somalia to join up with al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab is a Somali insurgent faction embracing a radical form
of Islam similar to the harsh, conservative brand practiced by
Afghanistan's Taliban regime. Its fighters, numbering several
thousand strong, are battling Somalia's weakened government and
have been branded a terrorist group with ties to al-Qaida by the
U.S. and other Western countries.

One of two indictments issued in Minnesota alleges that two
Somali women and others went door-to-door in Minneapolis,
Rochester, Minn. and elsewhere in the U.S. and Canada to raise
funds for al-Shabab's operations in Somalia. The indictment says
the women raised the money under false pretenses, claiming it would
go to the poor and needy, and used phony names for recipients to
conceal that the money was going to al-Shabab.

The indictment alleges that the women, Amina Farah Ali and Hawo
Mohamed Hassan, also raised money by making direct appeals to
people in teleconferences "in which they and other speakers
encouraged financial contributions to support violent jihad in
Somalia."

During one teleconference, the indictment says, Ali told others
"to forget about the other charities" and focus on "the Jihad."

The indictment says Ali and others sent the funds to al-Shabab
through various hawalas, money transfer businesses that are a
common source of financial transactions in the Islamic world.

Hawo HassanMPR Photo/Laura Yuen

Ali is accused of sending $8,608 to al-Shabab on 12 different
occasions between Sept. 17 2008 through July 5, 2009.

After the FBI searched Ali's home in 2009, she allegedly
contacted an al-Shabab leader in southern Somalia and said: "I was
questioned by the enemy here. ... they took all my stuff and are
investigating it ... do not accept calls from anyone."

Also on Thursday, a newly released State Department annual
report on worldwide terrorism noted with concern that al-Qaida,
particularly in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, appeared to be
attracting growing numbers of radicalized Americans to its cause.

Roughly 20 men from the U.S. - all but one of Somali descent -
left Minnesota from December 2007 through October 2009 to join
al-Shabab, officials have said.

Somali-Americans have been recruited and have taken part in
suicide bombings in Somalia, and U.S. officials fear trained
Somali-American terror plotters could return to the United States.

Al-Shabab last month claimed twin bombings in Uganda that killed
76 during the World Cup final, the group's first international
attack. Uganda and Burundi both have peacekeeping forces in
Mogadishu, and al-Shabab has vowed to continue attacks against the
two countries.

Al-Shabab members began pledging allegiance to al-Qaida last
year. One of its most famous members is known as Abu Mansour
al-Amriki, or "the American." He appeared in a jihadist video in
May 2009.

Omar Jamal, the first secretary at the Permanent Mission of the
Somali Republic to the United Nations, said Thursday he was happy
to hear of the indictments.

"We welcome this as a positive step toward the beginning of the
defeat of al-Shabab," said Jamal, a longtime advocate for the
Somali community in Minneapolis.